Spoilers: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

[raidem]

I realize this board is for discussion about Dresden Files.  There however is links between DF and Star Wars in the role of hidden familial relationships and ongoing allusions to the Star Wars universe within the Dresden Files.  So, going forward any discussion about the movie and speculation concerning it will be spoiled and I ask that you include spoiler tags too to safeguard the errant wanderer that doesn't get the clue in the title.

So, here goes my theory:

(click to show/hide)

Rey's parents are Luke Skywalker and Vice Admiral Holdo

From what I've gathered about Holdo's backstory is that she and Lea met each other in their coming to age journey where they became friends and Holdo later joins the resistance out of this friendship.  Holdo comes from a planet, that the expanded universe literature states Luke went to early on after the defeat of the Empire.  So, in the literature out there, we have some connections between Luke and Holdo via Lea and proximity at least when it comes to Luke visiting her planet.  I could see Luke devoloping an attraction that blossoms later on into something more and then going on unaware that he had sired a daughter.  Holdo though would obviously have known, if in fact she is the mother.  If we go by Rey's flashback's in the first movie, it seems someone left her on Jakku and they left on a well maintained transport that left the planet.  I'd say from this flashback, it seems Rey was left on Jakku around the age of 6 or so.  Perhaps Holdo learned about something happening with the Jedi Temple that Luke was teaching at, it's destruction and warping of Lea's son Ben that convince Holdo she needed to protect her daughter by 'stranding' her elsewhere or placing her under the protection of the force sensitive who Kylo later kills on Jakku, and who had the partial map to Luke.
*(There seems some peculiarity with Rey being able to fly the Millennium Falcon so ably in first movie, I wonder if perhaps she has some stored knowledge imprinted on her psyche, etc that she has unconscious access to.)

Now, to the expanded universe novels.
Luke marries Mara Jade who has crimson hair. (Holdo uses dyed hair often out of some early on rebelliousness and/or quirk of personality; so it could line up with a similarity to Mara Jade's crimson hair)
They have a son named Ben Skywalker.

Lea and Han Solo marry.
They have twins Jaina and Jacen Solo.  They also have a boy named Anakin Solo.
The bad guy in Star Wars turns out to be Jacen Solo not Ben. 
Luke and Ben Solo retrace Jacen's journey to find out who, what turned him to the dark side.

So, you can see how Disney, with the movie, mixes and matches names, relationships, etc in making their movie with some familial connection shrouded.  There is also the potential in Star Wars for cloning, other reproductive techniques to be used to produce a child so that needs to be kept as an option.  Well, that is my best shot at proposing who Rey's possible parents are.

[Snark Knight]

You've actually seen TLJ, right? The parentage question was answered in the actual movie.

[wardenferry419]

For many, the answer was found to be lacking.

[raidem]

Yeah. You actually believed it [that the parentage question was answered]?  I don't buy it. 

(click to show/hide)

Her parentage is still shrouded. She was left with someone and looks up toward a transport as if her family or parent or loved one was on that transport. And, that transport was a really nice transport, not some piece of junk, I checked. I rented the first movie yesterday.

Kylo Ren is the one that suggests she is a nobody, etc. She agrees or feels that way.  It doesn't mean she just suddenly found the truth of her parentage in the conversation with Kylo. And remember, he probably was using her desire for parents to bring her over to him in his own way in saying "you are a nobody but I want you so come to me."
Maz believes there is something to her parentage and asks Han who is the girl. Maz sees Rey is drawn to Luke's lightsaber. Luke asks her who are you, why are you here.  We have basically been led to think is Rey Luke's daughter or maybe Han's daughter.  And, then we find out, nope she is just some 'nobody' that had strong potential with the force, who was just coincidentally at the same planet where the millennium falcon was, where missing piece to Luke hideaway was, to where Kylo Ren shows up, etc.

I've also read so many of the novels in the expanded universe in my youth so I know a thing or two about the people in the background, the plots, etc that others who haven't read them don't know.  I see where Disney is editing in this expanded universe to create its own version.  So, Disney to this point has totally voided Luke's (love interest, wife, son).  I think we will find out Luke did have a love interest and maybe didn't find out he had a kid himself.  It's not like that hasn't happened before in Star Wars where a kid has been hidden from their father.

[wardenferry419]

I am not saying I believe it. In fact, I don't want to believe it. It goes against the grain of Star Wars being the Skywalker saga. But, I suspect that it will be so in order to appease certain non-plot related needs.

[raidem]

(click to show/hide)

Well, if they want a romantic thing to go on between Kylo and Rey, they will need to snuff out familial relationship I think.  If they want to put more emphasis on non-skywalker jedi, that is another way to do it with Rey having nobody roots.  I'm just saying Disney just voided lots of expanded universe material regarding Luke's history and his family.  I mean there are comics 100+ years after RTJ where Cade (Skywalker), Luke's descendant plays a part in taking down a Sith Lord.  So, much of the expanded universe has Luke having a child.

I mean, Disney is the new owner, and the expanded universe is no longer canon. But I still see Disney taking ideas from it and using those ideas in the movies they already created.

I stumbled on an article about the expanded universe and new movies.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-the-force-awakens-borrowed-from-the-old-star-wars-1749328107

Read this.  As someone who is familiar with EU cited in the passage, it's why I'm still speculating about her parents and not accepting the answer that others do in The Last Jedi.

(click to show/hide)

There’s a lot of speculation over Rey’s family—whether she’s a Solo, a Skywalker, or just specially Force-powerful. For those familiar with the EU, it’s really hard to not assume some kind of familiar relationship between Ren and Rey. When Rey fought him and won in The Force Awakens, that was reminiscent of Jaina and Jacen Solo’s last fight in the books. Jaina is Jacen’s twin.

Timeline-wise, Rey can’t be Ren’s twin. She’s nineteen and Ren is around 30. And Han and Leia don’t react to her strong enough for her to be their daughter. But something about that theory feels right, if only because of the baggage left behind by the EU.

So, Disney is do some mixing and matching and some distractions right now to keep us off guard as they role out their movie where people who have read the expanded universe may already have an idea of where they are going, because it's already gone there before.

[raidem]

Spoilers. The big bad in the Expanded Universe is a 100,000 year old lady named...

(click to show/hide)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Abeloth
She is the cause of force psychosis. She is also the cause of the cyclic nature of Sith rising to power followed by their fall.  She is imprisoned, breaks free, has more influence in the galaxy, and then gets imprisoned again by the Ones except now the Ones are dead.  The prison has weakened and she has broken free.  She also uses multiple bodies.  She can effectively use/create clones of herself, and switch bodies with others like capiocorpus.

So, maybe Rey is meant to take her down. Maybe she is a clone of abeloth that abeloth wants to later use but will get turned against herself. (Crazy Wagging) Luke was the one who killed Abeloth, but he did so many, many times.  He had to have the special weapon used to kill "the Ones" to kill her.

So, in this plot outline it seems there would be too much for one movie but it eventually could set the stage for Rey that battles her EVIL self who just wants to extinguish all life in the galaxy.

[Sully]

Or maybe both disney and star wars EU are both full of mediocrity and clumsily used tropes?

Neither IP is known for their subtlety or respect for canon & continuity here.

[Kindler]

Honestly, I was so disappointed in the movie that I didn't even care about Rey's parentage being "answered." Whether it's true or not to me, functionally, is meaningless. After this movie failed to provide any sort of payoff from events built up in The Force Awakens, all I can say is that the next one better be written by someone competent.

[raidem]

Yeah, I hope there is more of a spark to this next movie.

(click to show/hide)

If I'm reading the tea leaves from the expanded universe, then Luke may have picked up on an entity sowing extreme discord within the force. He believed it to be Snook but went on an investigation and found there was another entity at play in the background. The same entity pushed Luke with homicidal ideation when he went to confront Ben.  So, Luke journeys throughout the galaxy trying to track down this entity and learn more about the force from communities that have different ideas regarding force and trainings.  Luke learns that that he must shield himself from this entity and must not be captured, used again by the entity which is why Luke finally strands himself on the Jedi Island where he "must" live out his days.  It may be that he has seen worse futures with him stepping off this island, etc.  It should be noted that Snook considers Luke wise by not leaving the island.  Snook may know something about this entity and it's ability to penetrate and compromise the Jedi.

There is still a possibility that Snook himself may be a clone of the greater entity like I described about Abeloth.  So, I guess it's possible we could see him again.  I think we need a bad guy real quick or realize that there is a Big Bad guy that Disney will have some time making lots of movies trying to take down.  That would be the answer to the prophecy about Anakin.  He, his bloodline, will take out this Big Bad, thereby restoring balance to the force.

[Rasins]

And what was the deal at the end, where the two little boys were telling the story of the battle between Luke and Ben, then showing one of them going out to sweep and using the force?

I think that could totally be a hint that there are lots of force users out there that are not getting trained, but could be gathered.

Also, I believe that ...

(click to show/hide)

Luke is not dead.  I think the battle with Ben was a means Luke discovered to project himself, like a force ghost, and he never left the island.

[WereElephant]

Curious to know what Harry, Molly, Thomas, and Butters think of the new movies. And the franchise as a whole.

I'm guessing Harry and Butters are original trilogy sticklers who refuse to acknowledge the prequels, though Butters is up on pre-Phantom Menace Expanded Universe. And despite anything Harry says, I bet he thinks the Ewoks were cute, to Thomas' and Butters' disgust.

Thomas, despite his disdain for the portrayal, feels something of a sympathy with prequel Anakin, always being tempted by a darker side, but also a contempt for his weakness at dealing with it. He has only seen the movies and the Clone Wars animated series.

Molly enjoys all of it, understanding that just because it has imperfections doesn't mean it should be condemned. I'm hoping she brings some Star Wars-esque beings into the Winter Court.

None of them like Porgs.

[Rasins]

Curious to know what Harry, Molly, Thomas, and Butters think of the new movies. And the franchise as a whole.

I'm guessing Harry and Butters are original trilogy sticklers who refuse to acknowledge the prequels, though Butters is up on pre-Phantom Menace Expanded Universe. And despite anything Harry says, I bet he thinks the Ewoks were cute, to Thomas' and Butters' disgust.

Thomas, despite his disdain for the portrayal, feels something of a sympathy with prequel Anakin, always being tempted by a darker side, but also a contempt for his weakness at dealing with it. He has only seen the movies and the Clone Wars animated series.

Molly enjoys all of it, understanding that just because it has imperfections doesn't mean it should be condemned. I'm hoping she brings some Star Wars-esque beings into the Winter Court.

None of them like Porgs.

I don't understand why everyone was so down on the Porgs.

(click to show/hide)

They looked delicious.

[Kindler]

I don't understand why everyone was so down on the Porgs.

(click to show/hide)

They looked delicious.

Personally, I found their presence to be overused. It's the type of RANDOMM XD humor that is currently popular but I find annoying. A couple of scenes are fine, but they were basically Chewbacca's entire character arc in the movie.

[raidem]

(click to show/hide)

Raisins: Luke is not dead.  I think the battle with Ben was a means Luke discovered to project himself, like a force ghost, and he never left the island.

That is what happened.

Luke projected from the island onto the planet to distract Ben to give the Rebels a chance to escape. He was never there, just a very well made mirage.  Next time you watch it, check out Luke's feet in the fight scenes. His steps and stances never reveals the red salt underneath while Kylo steps do. I caught that nugget on the second time through.   As to his force melding on the island, it may be a grey area of "death" where he may get show time again as a live figure or a hybrid where his force self may play a role in a fight to come though.  Yoda caused lightning on the island to strike a tree; I think we can see Luke do some things likewise as well, and more things that Yoda couldn't.

In the expanded universe in the lead up to finding out who turned Jacen Solo, Luke learns to mind walk from the mindwalkers.  It's similar to what Luke did in this episode of The Last Jedi.  It's an ability that leads him closer to learning about Abeloth, an imprisoned darkside creature responsible for the unbalancing of the force in cycles over the last 100k years. (Spoiler w/in Spoiler: The Sith and Jedi team up to fight her because she wants to kill everything.  Of course, the Sith stab each other and the Jedi in the back at times during the fights but it's a motif that recurs time and again.  The Sith (the ones who know her real threat) really don't like her at all.)

And what was the deal at the end, where the two little boys were telling the story of the battle between Luke and Ben, then showing one of them going out to sweep and using the force?
I think that could totally be a hint that there are lots of force users out there that are not getting trained, but could be gathered.

Yeah, the expanded universe never really force users as being all that rare.  I mean in the movies you'd think Luke, Lea, Vader, Emperor, Obiwan, etc were the only ones who were force users/potentials. In the EU, there are many force communities out there in the galaxy, with many people having some, medium, and strong strengths in the force.

Oh, and I can't wait to see DJ next time. (DJ Don't Join - the Codebreaker)

(click to show/hide)

I think he will turn out to be a good guy and a great asset for the resistance that has been bidding his time to strike out at the First Order.  I'm sure there is some bad blood between himself and the Order that he hasn't revealed yet. But he is right, he can't fight if he is dead or imprisoned. So, he has to make some unethical bad choices to live another day.  I think he also may have some talent with the force.  He just happened to be in a prison cell right where he would be needed, with a very particular skillset that was being sought after.  He also knew the force symbol and it's metal content and just accepted it as token payment only to give it back while he required real payment from Snook and the Empire from ratting out the cloaked transports.

There was a X fighter pilot who had talent with force and it made him lucky, etc.  There could be something similar at play with DJ he has a nose for following a path even though it looks bad to us, it's one that ultimately ends better off than it otherwise would have if he played it our way.